KARACHI: The Gold League leadership in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship changed hands in the space of 24 hours on Saturday as Naeemuddin and Imran Khalid helped SNGPL displace National Bank at the top with a remarkable four-wicket against Peshawar Panthers.

The Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL), winners of two successive defunct President’s Trophy titles, successfully chased down what seemed a difficult task at stumps on Friday when they slumped to 129-6 in their pursuit for a 223-run target at the Arbab Niaz Stadium in Peshawar.

The left-handed duo of opener Naeemuddin and Imran resumed at their overnight individual scores of 63 and 20, respectively and got the remaining runs without being separated in a partnership yielding 133 as SNGPL ended up making 225-6 with Naeemuddin scoring 113 (241 balls, two boundaries) and Imran (124 balls, seven fours and three sixes).

SNGPL now have 42 points, one more than National Bank, with their fifth win in six matches.

Wapda, who led the standings prior to the sixth round, are stationed third with 35 points after losing to Rawalpindi Rams by three wickets at the Pindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi.

The Rams, starting the fourth and final day at 19-2, duly reached a target of 209 thanked to a splendid seventh-wicket partnership of 108 between Zahid Mansoor (86 off 185 balls, 11 boundaries) and Usman Saeed (63 not out, 129 balls, eight fours).

Former international Abdur Rauf grabbed his 55th five-for as Port Qasim Authority (PQA) defeated Islamabad Leopards by 45 runs at the Diamond Club Ground in Islamabad.

The Leopards lost their last six wickets for 69 runs after resuming at 204-4 in their chase for 329. The 35-year-old Rauf, who had taken two wickets on Friday, claimed five for 5-71 after Umar Amin broke the fifth-wicket stand of 138 between Mohammad Irfan (83 off 180 balls, nine fours) and Sarmad Bhatti (83 off 124, 10 fours).

The remaining two matches were both drawn with Karachi Dolphins and Multan Tigers taking first-innings’ points against United Bank and ZTBL, respectively.

Scores and results on Saturday (final day of four):

At National Stadium, Karachi: Match drawn.

KARACHI DOLPHINS 411 in 128.2 overs (Mohammad Waqas 87, Babar Hussain Agha 75, Faraz Ahmed Khan 71, Babar Rehman 56 not out, Yasir Mushtaq 40; Adil Raza 5-87, Junaid Ilyas 3-126) and 376-3 in 116 overs (Yasir Mushtaq 151 not out, Saad Ali 104 not out, Hamza Ghanchi 54, Fazal Subhan 42; Junaid Ilyas 2-126); UNITED BANK 291 in 101.5 overs (Ali Asad 74, Hamza Haroon 68, Saeed bin Nasir 40, Ammar Hasan 36; Mir Hamza 5-74, Babar Rehman 4-52).

At Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan: Match drawn.

ZTBL 244 in 66.1 overs (Shahid Yousuf 75, Rameez Alam 70, Karamat Ali 34; Majid Ali 4-60, Mohammad Irfan 2-54, Mohammad Asif 3-70) and 315 in 93 overs (Shahid Yousuf 71, Kashif Daud 56 not out, Sharjeel Khan 52, Rameez Alam 36; Majid Ali 3-72, Mohammad Ali Niazi 2-46, Hasnain Bukhari 2-65); MULTAN TIGERS 282 in 115.1 overs (Ahmed Rasheed 120, Abdur Rehman Muzammil 48; Mohammad Khalil 6-85, Zohaib Khan 2-52) and 175-5 in 60 overs (Usman Liaquat 78 not out, Ammar Ali 52; Karamat Ali 3-49, Zohaib Khan 2-53).

At Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi: Rawalpindi Rams beat Wapda by three wickets.

WAPDA 316 in 89.1 overs (Iftikhar Ahmed 96, Ayaz Tasawwar 95, Sarfraz Ahmed 40, Adnan Raees 34; Atlas Khan 5-114, Rashid Latif 2-59, Rizwan Akbar 2-89) and 162 in 58 overs (Rizwan Akbar 4-49, Rashid Latif 3-38); RAWALPINDI RAMS 270 in 80.5 overs (Baber Naeem 87, Yasim Murtaza 69, Talha Qureshi 59; Azhar Attari 3-59, Waqas Masood 3-79, Mohammad Ali Bhutta 2-67) and 209-7 in 75.5 overs (Zahid Mansoor 86, Usman Saeed 63 not out; Waqas Maqsood 3-46, Mohammad Ali Bhutta 2-84).

At Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad: Port Qasim Authority beat Islamabad Leopards by 45 runs.

PORT QASIM AUTHORITY 170 in 40 overs (Kamran Younis 62; Shehzad Ahmed Rana 5-86, Hamza Nadeem 3-52) and 312 in 84.5 overs (Khalid Latif 92, Daniyal Ahsan 88, Azam Hussain 24, Shehzad Azam Rana 4-102, Imad Wasim 3-23, Hamza Nadeem 2-74); ISLAMABAD LEOPARDS 158 in 53.3 overs (Ali Sarfraz 52; Sohail Khan 8-91, Abdur Rauf 2-36) and 279 in 76 overs (Mohammad Irfan 83, Sarmad Bhatti 83, Umar Kayani 38; Abdur Rauf 5-71, Sohail Khan 2-104).

At Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar: SNGPL beat Peshawar Panthers by four wickets.

PESHAWAR PANTHERS 120 in 42.4 overs (Jamaluddin 48; Samiullah Khan Niazi 6-31, Atif Jabbar 2-15) and 237 in 74 overs (Akbar Badshah 46, Mehran Ibrahim 45; Asad Ali 3-47, Samiullah Khan Niazi 3-69, Imran Khalid 2-49); SNGPL 135 in 57 overs (Ali Waqas 59, Khurram Shehzad 33; Taj Wali 6-42, Azizullah 4-40) and 225-6 in 80.1 overs (Naeemuddin 113 not out, Imran Khalid 63 not out; Taj Wali 3-85, Afaq Ahmed 2-47).

Published in Dawn, November 16th , 2014